Takahashi Ai (高橋 愛), legal name Abe Ai (阿部 愛), is a Japanese singer, actress and model managed by UP-FRONT CREATE. She is best known as the former leader of Morning Musume and Hello! Project and as a former member of Minimoni. She joined Morning Musume in 2001 through the fifth generation auditions. In 2007, Takahashi became the leader of Hello! Project. However, on September 30, 2011, she passed her leadership of Morning Musume and Hello! Project to Niigaki Risa when she graduated. As of 2009, she was the longest-serving leader.

Takahashi's vocals became more prominent on the second and final Minimoni album, "Minimoni Songs 2," as well as on Morning Musume's singles from "Roman ~MY DEAR BOY~" onward. She also had a duet with Tsunku singing Hamasaki Ayumi's "LOVE~Since1999~" for his second solo album TAKE 1.

Following then-leader Yoshizawa Hitomi's graduation from Morning Musume on May 6, the current sub-leader, Fujimoto Miki ascended to the leader position, with Takahashi becoming the new sub-leader of the group. However, on June 1, after Fujimoto's resignation, Takahashi took over as the new leader.

Takahashi became a member of Hello Project's new unit High-King, a group created to promote Morning Musume's upcoming Cinderella the Musical, in which Takahashi played the main character.

It was announced in July 2008, that Takahashi and fellow Morning Musume member Niigaki Risa would play the '80s J-Pop duo Pink Lady in the TV Drama Hitmaker Aku Yuu Monogatari.

As of September 2008, she and Niigaki Risa had the second longest tenures of any member, with only Iida Kaori remaining in the group longer. She is also one of only four members to remain in the group for seven years or more, with the others being Iida Kaori, Yoshizawa Hitomi and Niigaki Risa.

At the beginning of 2011, it was announced that Takahashi would graduate in Autumn 2011, passing leadership of Morning Musume and Hello! Project to then sub-leader Niigaki Risa. Takahashi made following statement:

"Since Eri graduated, Tsunku told me to think about when I should graduate, too. There is still a lot of time so, after having been the leader for the 9th gen and having taken good care of them, I want to graduate."

It was announced that Takahashi Ai would be the lead actress in a special Valentine Day's drama titled Koi Choco - Bitter Sweet Angel.

It was announced that Takahashi would be opening an official Ameba Shop.

On June 23, it was announced that in her last Morning Musume single, "Kono Chikyuu no Heiwa wo Honki de Negatterun da yo!", she would release a solo song, "Jishin Motte Yume wo Motte Tobitatsu Kara," as a coupling song only available in her graduation edition of the single.

On October 11, it was announced that Takahashi would be a regular MC on the Ameba Studio show Joshi Chikara Café ~Aisukurissu~ hosted by Chris Matsumura. The show aired every Wednesday starting from October 12 at 10PM (JST).

On November 25, it was announced that Takahashi would be part of the cast for a stage play titled La Patisserie. The play ran from March 3 to March 11 in Tokyo, and on March 20 and 22 in Osaka and Ishikawa.

On March 18, Takahashi appeared in the commercial "Ai to Kumao," promoting the insect repellent Mushuda. This was her first time appearing solo on a commercial.

On May 10, Takahashi modeled for Vanquish Venus fashion magazine.

Takahashi held a solo-live, titled Takahashi Ai Sparkling Live in Yuigahama, on July 21.

Takahashi participated in a musical called Merrily We Roll Along in November.

On July 3, it was announced that Takahashi would be going to Thailand for the Japan Festa 2013 from August 31 to September 1. She held a free mini live and handshake event.

On July 16, it was announced that she would hold a birthday live, titled Ai Takahashi Birthday Live 2013 ~HELLO♥27~, on September 14 in Tokyo and September 16 in Osaka. Later, her Osaka performance was cancelled due to a typhoon.

On September 10, HMV announced that Takahashi would be releasing her first style book, titled AI am I. on October 18. It included an interview about her Morning Musume days, as well as her idea of love; and also articles on how to find a outfit, hair tips, and makeup.

Takahashi became a regular in the new TV drama Jikken Keiji Totori 2, which began airing on October 12.

In late October to November, Takahashi began filming in Usa, Oita for the movie Kara-age☆USA as the lead actress.

In April it was announced that she had joined a girl group with fellow Morning Musume graduates Mari Yaguchi andTsuji Nozomi called "Datsumo Musume", under the management of Datsumo Labo for the promotion of their hair removal services.

On July 17, the women's lingerie and clothing retailer PEACH JOHN announced they would be collaborating with Takahashi for the collection LOVE & PEACH.[2]

On September 11, it was announced Takahashi would be collaborating with fashion brand haco. for the LOVE&PEACE Project 2015, a project that began in the wake of the 9/11 attacks to raise funds to support "a happy future for children around the world" by selling clothing from the project collection.[3]

On October 2, Takahashi modeled and introduced a new boot collection by ASBee.[4]

In the spring Takahashi starred in Hoshi Boshi no Yakusoku, Japan's first live-action drama movie made for a fulldome cinema, which was screened at the Fukui City Museum of Natural History Dome Theater.[5]

On September 27, Takahashi will release her third style book 30. as an e-mook.

She is the oldest child in her family and has one sister who is two years younger.

When Takahashi joined Morning Musume, she was a third year middle school student. She graduated high school in March 2005.

Takahashi met Niigaki Risa during the 5th generation training camp and became close friends since.

On June 15, 2012, tabloid magazine FRIDAY reported Takahashi and Abe Koji were in a relationship and lived together.[6] The two met in May 2011 as co-stars in the stageplay Hamlet. Both their agencies stated they were good friends, but denied that they lived together.

On August 16, 2013, Nikkan Sports reported that Takahashi and Abe were engaged and planned to get married within the year.[7] However, it was later revealed that neither of their agencies knew about the news and according to Takahashi, they were just friends and had no plans on getting married.[8][9]

On August 18, Abe confirmed that he and Takahashi were in a relationship, after both of their agencies denied that they were.[10] At that point they still had no plans of getting married.

On December 21, it was announced that Takahashi and Abe were engaged and would be getting married on February 14 the next year.[11] They registered their marriage on February 14, 2014.[12]

Takahashi and Abe held a wedding ceremony in Hawaii on June 2, 2014 (June 3 in Japan) in front of 30 friends and family, including Mitsui Aika.[13][14]

On April 12, 2013, Takahashi announced she would be undergoing surgery for vocal nodules.[16] On her blog she stated, “I started feeling discomfort in my throat at the end of February, and sometimes I had a hard time uttering my voice.”[17] After her stageplay Moshimo Kokumin ga Shusho o Erandara ended on April 30, she would concentrate on treatment starting in May.

On June 6, 2013, Takahashi announced on her blog that she would be returning to work.[18]

Here is a list of nicknames that was used to refer to Takahashi Ai:

Ai-chan (愛ちゃん): Official nickname, given her since joining Morning Musume. Used by members and fans.

Lovely (ラブリー): Used for the role of Takahashi Lovely (高橋ラブリー) in "Hello Pro News" during Hello! Morning.[19] It was used because "Lovely" is generally associated with Love (愛), which is the kanji for her name "Ai".[20]

Tettekete (テッテケテー): Given to her by Ishibashi Takaaki on Utaban. It was a play on her staccato, Morse Code-like speech pattern (e.g., "tette-te-tette-ke-kete") at that time.[21] Since then, Yasuda Kei has used that nickname.[22]

Graduated from Hinode High School, a private academy known for its many celebrity students.

Highly skilled and trained in classical ballet and singing. Entered a nation-wide competition with her junior high choir.

On October 7, 1999, she appeared on the "BS Junior Nodo Jiman" singing competition held in Sabaeshi in Fukui and won the Best Stage Award.

Her photo book 19 held the #1 spot in photo book rankings in 2006.

Has been a huge fan of Takarazuka since her childhood. She wanted to be a Takarasienne, but gave up on it due to her short height. She is noted by other members for trying to make them watch videos of Takarazuka productions. Her favorite performer is Mizu Natsuki.

Has personally acknowledged she is not good at talk/interview portions.

She is the first member of Morning Musume to reach the age of 24 while still in the group (Nakazawa Yuko was already 24 when the group was formed).

In Yorosen!, she taught other Morning Musume members about the Edo Period.

She said that if she could become another member of Hello! Project that she would become Sayashi Riho because she'd like people to call her "cute" no matter what she does. Coincidentally, Sayashi said that she would like to become Takahashi as a reply to the same question.

Has studied English in her spare time for several years. She occasionally writes in English on her blog.

Her favorite part of English is slang, and she purchased an English slang and profanity guide. She shared her favorite English curse word on an episode of Hello! Morning